Nine anti-Trump Republicans sponsor election law reform

The House of Representatives voted on Wednesday in favor of the legislative bill to reform the Election Recount Law. A measure prompted in the wake of the events of January 6, 2021 and the assault on Capitol Hill and pushed by Democratic Congresswoman Zoe Lofgreny and Republican Liz Cheney. A total of nine Republicans voted in favor of the bill, which passed with 229 votes in favor and 203 against.

The bill aims to make it more difficult to challenge a state's electors - one-third of the members of the House will have to do so, compared to the current requirement of one member and one senator; it makes the vice president's role in certifying the results of the Electoral College merely ceremonial and reduces the grounds for filing an objection. In short, it seeks to avoid claims like those that preceded the Capitol riots after the 2020 election.

Among the results of the vote, 9 names stand out: Republicans who voted in favor of this reform. All of them are either retiring or were defeated in the Republican Party primaries by candidates backed by Donald Trump.

Along with Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming and one of the former president's greatest detractors), Republicans Adam Kinzinger (Illinois), Anthony Gonzalez (Ohio), Jaime Herrera Beutler (Washington), Chris Jacobs (New York), John Katko (New York), Peter Meijer (Michigan), Fred Upton (Michigan) and Tom Rice (South Carolina) voted in favor of the reform bill.

Cheney, Herrera Beutler, Meijer and Rice lost their reelection primaries to challengers backed by Donald Trump. For their part, Kinzinger, Katko, Jacobs, Gonzalez and Upton announced their withdrawal from the House. Except for Jacobs, all of these Republicans who supported the election reform bill voted to impeach Trump after the January 6 riots.